The European Investment Bank (EIB) has extended a $45 million long-term loan in support of the educational component of the Plan for Social and Economic Transformation (PSET) of Jordan, due to be implemented between July 2003 and July 2008, stated a press release.

The loan will make a significant contribution to improving access to primary education and to underpinning the reform of the Kingdom’s teaching methods by focusing on upgrading the learning environment through construction of 160 new schools, including 140 classrooms for pre-school education, and 800 extensions and rehabilitation of 340 existing buildings.

The loan will also optimize pupils’ access to information and communications technologies by installing IT equipment in schools and introducing IT programs and will develop the Ministry of Education’s capacity to design, set up and monitor educational programs meeting the requirements of a modern economy and to manage the corresponding data.

Co-financed by the Jordanian Government, the EIB and the World Bank, this education plan will also be backed by grants from development agencies, specifically targeting teacher training and the definition of teaching programs.

EIB’s new Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP), set up following the Barcelona European Council in 2002, gives top priority to private sector development and social projects. Since FEMIP's launch, the EIB has already helped finance a number of important development schemes including renovation of the Syrian and Tunisian hospital systems and the creation of 6,800 IT classrooms in Turkey. — (menareport.com)